In 2015, Camacho struck the proper balance of innovation, boldness, luxury (while remaining attainable for the everyman), and Americana—introducing American Barrel-Aged as the first cigar in a new series called “Master Built.” While not quite as luxurious and limited as the company’s Liberty Series, the Master Built Series showcases more innovative concepts, bridging the gap from Camacho’s baseline cigars to their most premium. For American Barrel-Aged, this meant incorporating primarily American-grown tobaccos, highlighted by the use of Corojo leaves in the cigar’s filler, which had been aged for five months in American oak barrels formerly containing Kentucky bourbon.

Camacho added to the Master Built Series in 2016 with Powerband, a cigar geared around motorcycle culture. For this blend, innovation came from a a proprietary Powerband™ bunching technique that boasted an ideal draw/construction, offering a consistent smoking experience from start to finish. Both Camacho ABA (American Barrel-Aged) and Camacho Powerband ranked among Cigar Dojo’s Cigar of the Year lists for their respective release years.

And while Powerband deviated from the unique characteristics of barrel aging, the company returned to this strategy for 2017’s addition to the Master Built Series—Nicaraguan Barrel-Aged. For this project, the cigars focus on Nicaraguan tobaccos that have been aged in some of the world’s oldest Nicaraguan rum barrels (Flor de Caña).

Camacho Nicaraguan Barrel-Aged 360

Nicaraguan Barrel-Aged Toro Breakdown

  • Wrapper: Ecuador Habano 2000
  • Binder: Negrito San Andres (Mexico)
  • Filler: Nicaragua (Barrel-Aged Corojo ’99) | Honduras | Dominican Republic
  • Factory: Diadema Cigars de Honduras, S.A. (Honduras)
  • Production: Regular Production
  • Vitola: 6″ x 50 Toro
  • Price: $11.00 (MSRP)

Up until this point, Camacho has used Honduran-grown tobacco at the heart of each Master Built cigar, as the brand is known for their Honduran Original Corojo varietal. This holds true for nearly every cigar in the brand’s arsenal, from the core lineup to most blends within the Liberty Series. But for this Nicaraguan-based concept, the cigar rightfully called for a Nicaraguan varietal. Corojo ’99 leaves were grown in Estelí, Nicaragua and later aged for five months in barrels of Nicaragua’s prized Flor de Caña (whom ages their rum in used bourbon barrels).

For this new project, we pulled no punches and left no room for compromise when it came to the taste experience. We began working with intense Nicaraguan-grown Corojo fillers, painstakingly aging them in extra-old Nicaraguan rum barrels for 5-months. To hit the mark, our master builders worked with the team at Flor de Caña in Nicaragua to hand select these barrels for optimal humidity, some of which had been filled with rum for 25 years. The result is a powerful new blend that invites aficionados around the globe to stare down the barrel of Nicaragua’s true spirit.Dylan Austin, Vice President of Marketing at Davidoff of Geneva USA

Appearance

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The look is befittingly similar to Camacho ABA, only altering the highlight color of copper to a more maroon-like metal—along the lines of rose gold. In addition, the bands appear smaller than the oversized style of ABA and Powerband. This is due to the unorthodox style of displaying the cigar’s title vertically, rather the horizontal lettering found on most cigars. But the “CAMACHO” design has been shrunk for NBA (Nicaraguan Barrel-Aged) to accommodate the smaller bands. The cigars boxes are highly glossed and lack clasps, instead offering a heavy lid that uses its weight to keep itself properly closed. As usual, the look is top notch, allowing no room for criticism.

The cigar itself has a light, dusty brown appearance. There are visible seams and few, medium-thick veins running the length of the toro. The cigar has a sturdy feel to it, with what looks to be a medium-firm bunch. Overall, a great appearance and solid feel in the hand.

On the nose, the wrapper shows sweet musk and a faint booziness. There are additional notes of cherry pulp, enhanced rum booziness, and light cedar on the foot. The pre-light draw is roughly medium, giving light notes of cedar/paper and white pepper.

Camacho Nicaraguan Barrel-Aged 360

Smoking Experience

The cigar lights up with an unexpected profile—contrary to the sweet and caramel-filled notes I’d imagined, the palate is dry and rough, with flavors of raw peppercorns, earth, corn chips (think FRITOS), and brush fire. This dark, dry, and robust beginning seemed to last around a half-inch for most samples, eventually opening up to include notes of charred oak, a subtle booziness, white pepper (a brighter spice sensation, compared to the black peppercorns at the start), and even a juicy, wine-like sweetness on the finish.

Camacho Nicaraguan Barrel-Aged Toro review

Most samples of NBA had a medium/medium-firm draw—often a bit tight, but always manageable. Medium-plus bursts of smoke can be exhaled from every puff, with only light draws needed. This is one of those smoking experiences that shows different notes between small and large puffs; with white pepper spices and the previously mentioned burning brush qualities on large puffs, and sweeter, sugar and white oak notes on small sips. Transitioning between the first two thirds, the NBA can typically be categorized as medium in strength, flavor, and body.

Further into the cigar, there are notes of creamy caramel, nutmeg, clove, and sugarcane—producing a combination reminiscent of a clean and refreshing mojito cocktail. The smoking experience is fairly nuanced, calling for somewhat close attention to experience many of the flavor notes (as opposed to the fuller flavors of American Barrel-Aged or Powerband). At times there are light, bubbly, and herb-like notes that, despite the cigar’s rum background, are actually reminiscent of a gin and tonic cocktail. Some of the samples began letting up in smoke output nearing the final portions of the cigar, requiring touchups or re-lights. This brings out additional notes of cinnamon, oak, and torched sawdust (like burning wood from a dull saw blade). The profile ends around medium-plus in strength, medium in flavor, and medium-plus in body.

Camacho Nicaraguan Barrel-Aged cigar ash

Would I Smoke This Cigar Again?

While I’ll admit, it took some time for me to come around, this is definitely a solid smoking experience I’ll keep on a monthly rotation. I’ve tried multiple samples of each size Nicaraguan Barrel-Aged (Robusto: 5″ x 50 | Toro: 6″ x 50 | Gordo: 6″ x 60) and I feel that the Toro offers the best balance and complexity; with the Robusto not quite having enough time to showcase the full range of flavors, and the Gordo not having quite the concentration of flavor that the Toro displays. In the end, though, it seemed that all sizes benefitted from additional acclimation in the humidor (more so than usual). Either this, or perhaps my palate simply needed to adjust to the more nuanced style of NBA, compared to the fuller experience of the American Barrel-Aged. Also, the rum-aged aspects of the cigar are much less pronounced; there is a slight “boozy buzz” in the cigar’s first third, and there are subtle notes of oak and sugarcane later on, but these take a bit more seeking out than the bourbon influence of ABA.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:
  • Nicaraguan Barrel-Aged marks the fourth cigar in the Master Built Series, when including Cigar Dojo’s Imperial Stout Barrel-Aged collaboration with Camacho
  • NBA marks the 3rd barrel type used for tobacco aging in Master Built Series cigars (bourbon, beer, and rum)
  • All 3 barrels began by aging bourbon
  • NBA is the 1st Camacho cigar to use/advertise the Powerband™ bunching technique other than the Powerband cigar
  • The 1st (or 2nd, when including ISBA) Master Built cigar to be rolled at Camacho’s new Diadema Cigars de Honduras factory—the other 2 cigars were rolled at Davidoff’s Occidental Cigars factory in the Dominican Republic—uncharacteristic for the Honduran-based Camacho brand
  • Both ABA and NBA are listed as having filler tobaccos aged for 5 months in their respective barrels, while ISBA uses 6 months
  • Camacho’s parent company Oettinger Davidoff AG joined in the barrel-aging strategy for 2017, releasing Winston Churchill The Late Hour, which showcases tobaccos aged in scotch barrels for 6 months in the cigar’s filler
  • Smoke Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes
  • Pairing Recommendation: white rum mojito, barrel-aged rum, Belgian Dubbel ale, pour-over coffee (light-roast, Colombian)
  • Purchase Recommendation: box-split

Camacho Nicaraguan Barrel-Aged Toro cigar nubbed

Nicaraguan Barrel-Aged Toro
Camacho Nicaraguan Barrel-Aged Toro picks up where the company's first Master Built cigar left off, with Camacho transitioning from America-based tobaccos (aged in used bourbon barrels) to the more fiery tendencies of Nicaraguan leaf (aged in used rum barrels). Much in the same way rum tends to be softer and sweeter than its corn-based sibling, Nicaraguan Barrel-Aged is subdued and more nuanced than American Barrel-Aged. While the cigar lights up with a dry and charred profile, the flavors eventually open up to include sweeter notes of caramel, nutmeg, and refreshing note of simple syrup (like dipping raw sugarcane into a clean, white rum mojito). The profile may be a bit different than most hobbyists are accustomed to, but with a few smoking sessions and some added time in the humidor, Nicaraguan Barrel-Aged really begins to shine.
Appearance96%
Burn/Construction92%
Draw87%
Flavor91%
Complexity88%
Price/Value88%
Pros
  • Medium, easy-going and approachable flavors
  • Great construction - ash lasting around 2"
  • Above-average smoke output, giving plenty of flavor with small, sipping puffs
Cons
  • Slightly harsh beginning (first half-inch)
  • Fairly difficult to seek out the rum influence
90%Sugarcane
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